Richness of Secondary Metabolite-Producing Marine Bacteria Associated with Sponge Haliclona sp.

A total of 8 bacterial isolates associated with sponge Haliclona sp. collected from Bandengan water, Jepara, North Java Sea, Indonesia, was successfully screened for antibacterial activity against pathogenic bacteria Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Aeromonas hydrophila and Staphylococcus aureus. Active bacterial isolates were rapidly grouped by using rep-PCR and a dendrogram was constnicted. Five isolates were selected based on the constructed dendrogram for subsequent DNA sequencings resulted in the richness of secondary metabolite-producing sponge associated-bacteria having closest similarity to Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Pseudovibrio denitrjficans, Pseudoalteromonas sp., alpha proteobacterium and uncultured bacterium clone. The present study highlighted the repetitive-PCR method as a powerful tool for estimating the richness of secondary metabolite-producing parts among sponge colonizers.